Theology, philosophy, and just plain thinking.

Fitting In (The Shadows)

It is hard to believe that I have only posted here three times in the last month, one of which was a links post. This is due in part to my busy schedule, my commitments at other blogs, and a bit of a lack of inspiration. While I have not posted much recently, it is good to watch the blog continue to churn out content. We have collected a fine group of writers with a wide variety of views, and I am grateful to be a part of it, no matter how small.

I’ve written before about blogging, but felt it appropriate to comment on the shape this particular blog has been taking. I find that my thoughts lately have been primarily focused on examining the way life is now, as opposed to considering how life should be. Combine this examination of the present with the fact that I had posted here fairly infrequently, and I suppose the result was bound to be something akin to this post.

In fact, it feels as though a lot has changed since the post linked above. Since then we have gained two new authors, who also function as our editors, and Staples has returned to give us a quite extensive series on Anarchy. I find that while I have not posted as much content as I was last fall, I am still involved in this site on the administrative end; I find myself figuring out who is posting when, and adding small tweaks to posts before they go live.

What is particularly interesting to me is that I have found myself comfortable taking a bit of a behind-the-scenes position here at Push of Pikes. This is far from the first time I have settled into such a position, and I doubt it will be the last. But in many ways this time is unusual because, while the backstage is easier for me than the limelight, the nature of a blog is something public and external. I became a part of this blog in part because of my consistency with my own blog. I’ve managed to keep myself in the forefront of a majority of the posts over there, and joined Push of Pikes to be a part of a collective limelight, so to speak. Of course, the goal was always to place our focus on the ideas that we are interacting with, but we were to be the spokespeople.

So what pushes me back into the shadows? My strength certainly resides in the background, in spite of my blogging experience. I am capable of being in the spotlight, but much prefer to enable others to take such a role. So how do I interact with a blog that I helped start up? This is the question I have found myself facing as of late.

The answer so far is one that will not make any changes to the site or to the reader experience. While I intend to continue posting, I also hope to keep things running from behind the scenes. Whether this is helping figure out who is posting when, coming up with new ideas for what we do, or finding new writers, I aim to do just that.

It is important to recognize the role you are filling in any particular venture, and equally important to decide if that is the role you should fill. This decision comes from an examination of both your skills and your desires, both objectively and compared with those people with whom you partner.

In light of all of this, feel free to drop us a line at pushofpikes (at) gmail (dot) com, if you have an suggestions, comments, questions, or even a really funny story.